25 April, 2012

The Cloudsqueezer Machine.....

Wincey Wise was a young lady who
worked cleaning the King's advisers’ building. She was a very intelligent and
studious girl, and wasn't going to waste the opportunity of being around these
wise men. Even so, after a year there, listening to their meetings through the
keyhole, she was worried. The wise men never talked about anything new. They
just went on about old matters: when he did this and he learned that.

Wincey had been reading all the
books the men mentioned, and about all the subjects they discussed. But there
came a time when she didn't know what to learn next. She had read everything on
what the advisers talked about. So Wincey started reading about all kinds of
other things.

\

Meanwhile, a very long drought
had begun - something which had never happened in that land. The wise men
proposed solutions, but as it was something that had never happened before,
none of their ideas worked. Wincey, who had read all about climate, and seeing
that she knew a great deal more than them, dared to interrupt their
deliberations to suggest some solutions. The advisers ignored her; they said
she was just a girl, that they were the experts, and not to bother them again.

Wincey felt so saddened and
offended that she gave up her job there, went home, and spent several days
holed up in her attic. When she left she was pushing a trolley, and she pushed
it straight to the palace. She showed the King her invention: a strange
contraption with lots of buttons and a huge tuba sticking out the top.

"This is the
Cloudsqueezer," said Wincey, "it will put an end to the
drought."

"Hmm," said the King,
looking doubtful, "does it really work?"

Wincey bent over the machine,
whispered a few words into it, and the words were transformed into strange deep
noises, which came out of the tuba, like a speaker. Soon, a light shower began
falling outside. It stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Did you cast a spell?"
said the King, "Are you some kind of witch?"

"You what?" answered
Wincey, "it's just a bit of science."

The King seemed to approve, and
he called for his advisers to come and see the new invention. Wincey gave
another demonstration. On seeing the rain fall, the advisers launched into a
great scholarly debate. Was the effect based on atmospheric turbulence? Was it
a product of lunar reflectivity? And so many other equally ignorant theories
that Wincey couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

While they had been theorising,
the rain outside just got harder and harder. It ended up raining heavier than
anyone had ever seen. The advisers kept talking, and it rained all the harder.
So much so, that the King had to tell Wincey to disconnect the machine. She
turned off the Cloudsqueezer, and the rain stopped. In front of astonished
faces, she explained.

"The Cloudsqueezer is just a
translator. It translates and amplifies words so that the clouds can understand
them."

"So, how come it starts to rain?" asked the King.
"Ahh, that's because the clouds have a good sense of humour. Every time
they hear a bit of foolishness they cry with laughter!"

Everyone looked accusingly at the
King's advisers, and the wise men could do nothing but blush like tomatoes, in
shame. That experience turned out of great use to the King. Not only did the
drought come to an end, but, from that day on, they always kept the
Cloudsqueezer switched on. To avoid being shamed by the clouds tears of
laughter, the people of that land soon learned to study what they could, and to
keep quiet on themes about which they were ignorant.

We should never give up learning.
Nor should we ever think we know everything.